Avid Agility is released

Very rarely is the reincarnation of a classic pulled off successfully, but Steve Cohen’s done it with Avid Agility: Working Faster and More Intuitively with Avid Media Composer. To a generation of Media Composer editors, his Tips and Techniques manual got us up to professional speed with what was at the time a revolutionary piece of software. I don’t remember when I got mine. All I remember is sending a check and receiving a photocopied and bound text. Any specific tip, technique, or console command escapes me now — it was at least a dozen years since I read it, but the memory of it changing my approach to non-linear editing is fresh.

In keeping with tradition, Avid Agility is self-published, and it’s a good thing. Free of editorial constraints Steve is able to focus on what he finds important rather than having to write for the broadest possible audience. This book is aimed at those editors who want to use the tool to improve their craft. It’s not a technical reference manual covering I/O, codecs, etc. It’s all about how to use Media Composer to its fullest in pursuit of better storytelling.

Avid Agility is the first book I know of that goes into depth covering the new features of Media Composer 5 — the Smart Tool, Advanced Key Frames, etc. It’s an easy read, logically laid out, and useful to novice and experienced editor alike. Steve’s made several pages and the table of contents available on his site. I highly recommend this book.